Hyundai Motor Group holds firm as world’s No. 3 carmaker

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group kept its title as the world's third-largest automaker by sales volume for the second straight year in 2023, industry data showed on Sunday.

The group, including Hyundai Motor Co., premium brand Genesis and affiliate Kia Corp., sold a combined 7.3 million new cars globally last year, up 6.7% on-year. The group is aiming for sales of 7.4 million cars this year.

Toyota Motor Corp. is expected to top the world’s carmakers by sales for 2023. The Japanese firm sold 10.2 million cars between January and November last year, exceeding global peers’ sales for the full year.

Industry insiders estimate Toyota sold a total of 11 million cars last year, 5.4% up from a year earlier.

Volkswagen AG ranked the world’s second with 9.2 million sales, up around 12% on-year. Its key brands like Volkswagen and Audi grew up in major markets and the expanded lineup for electric vehicles supported the global sales, industry insiders say.

It is unclear which companies are the fourth- and fifth-largest carmakers as the respective sales of Stellantis Group and Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance were similar last year.

It is estimated that Stellantis sold 6.3 million cars last year, compared with Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance’s 6.2 million sales. In 2022, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance posted 6.2 million sales, beating Stellantis’ 6 million.

General Motors Co. ranked sixth with global sales of 5 million cars.

Hyundai Motor Group rose to emerge as the world’s fifth-largest automaker with 3.1 million car sales in 2010, beating Ford Motor Co. It climbed to fourth position with 6.3 million sales in 2020 and slid to fifth place the following year.

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.